Tuesday, June 25, 2013

work avoidance

I'm
trying to do some business related thing every work day while we are
waiting for some of the proposals to come in. If I get too
disconnected, it's hard to get back in work mode.

I
have two proposals to finish today, one for a residence and one for a
Catholic church in Nebraska. Both these inquiries came through my
business FB page within a day of each other. The Leadership Wall
contact was also made through my FB page but we had done work for
them before and they were looking for me. These two new ones were
looking for etched glass but not me specifically.

Not
that I'm ready to get back at it but at this point in our lives, we
need to make, and put back, as much money as we can. Owning two
properties is a nice ace in the hole. Especially the property in the
city which, thanks to the gentrification I have railed against, is
getting more valuable by the day. But, OMG, the neighborhood has
gotten so crowded and dense with people.

Of
course, having the grandkids out doesn't help me stay focused on
work. I went to the city yesterday and picked up the grandboy. He
brought a friend with him this year and has a friend that lives down
the street so he isn't much trouble or work beyond making sure there
is enough food in the house.

It's
really gotten too hot to do anything out in the yard though I did
formally plant the star of india yesterday morning before heading
into the city to pick up the boys. I say formally because as happens
with me a lot, I dither about where to permanently plant things and
often just end up putting the pot somewhere to see if it likes the
spot and then I forget about it. Fast forward months later and the
damn things just plant themselves through the bottom of the pots. In
fact that's how the star of india in Houston, which is over 6' tall,
got planted. Eventually, I get in there and either break the pot off
or, if it's plastic, cut it off, and mound dirt up around it.

Not
wanting to dig up and lift the roses on either side, I created a
raised bed around it. I'm running out of the brick pavers I usually
line my flower beds with and besides they wouldn't have been tall
enough, so I put a cinder block on either side and then created an
arc connecting them with wine bottles.

I'll
probably remove the bricks later after the ground settles.

These
would be the wine bottles that we are collecting because we think
bottle walls are cool and we want to build one, not that we have the
faintest idea of how to go about doing that but we're saving bottles
anyway.

I haven't ever seen that plant type before, it is lovely. And I adore your use of the wine bottles. There are lots of houses up by Taos, NM, called Earth Ships that have fandamntastic walls of bottles. There is a cute little museum up in the Sandia Mountains called Tinkertown that has all manner of things built of bottles. Love that look. Oma Linda

I think I have one of those Star of Indias in a pot. My friend who gave it to me called it a "tropical gardenia." It hasn't bloomed, ever, though. I don't think it gets enough sun where I have it. Bottle wall? Yes! Thank-you! Gorgeous idea!